Effect of Tanreqing Injection on Colon Injury and Intestinal Flora in Lipopolysaccharide-induced Mice
Objective To investigate the effects of tanreqing injection(TRQ)on lipopolysaccharides(LPS)-induced colon injury and intestinal flora in mice.Methods BALB/c mice were randomly divided into normal group,LPS-induced group,low-dose TRQ group(LPS+TRQ 4mg/kg)and high-dose TRQ group(LPS+TRQ 8mg/kg)by completely randomalized design.Body weight and liv-ing status of mice were recorded daily.The serum inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1(IL-1),IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to observe the path-ological changes of colon.16S rDNA sequencing was used to analyze the changes of intestinal flora in mice.Results High-dose TRQ had significant therapeutic effect on LPS-induced weight loss in mice(P<0.05).Both low-dose and high-dose TRQ can inhibit the LPS-induced increase in serum IL-1,IL-6 and TNF-α levels(P<0.01).Both low-dose and high-dose TRQ groups could sig-nificantly improve the colonic shortening(P<0.01,P<0.05)and pathological changes induced by LPS.High-dose TRQ could signifi-cantly increase the Simpson index of intestinal flora(P<0.05)and improve Beta diversity.The abundance of a variety of intestinal flora changed significantly in the high-dose TRQ group.Conclusion TRQ may improve the intestinal function by inhibiting the release of in-flammatory cytokines and regulating the structure of intestinal flora,and play a protective role in LPS-induced inflammatory response and colon injury in mice.